"Wait a second, is that you?"

Calix and I reclined in my bed, the cozy cream comforter pulled over our legs. His back rested against the headboard, and I snuggled into his side as he flipped through the stack of photos.

My mate snorted, drawing my attention upward. His thick, dark brows had gone flat over his silver eyes. Eyes that never wavered from the glossy photograph in his hands.

"What? You were adorable."

And he had been. It turned out Fae toddlers didn't look all that different from human toddlers if you ignored the tiny fangs and pointed ears. Unruly dark hair stuck up in all different directions as he bent down to pick up what looked like a toy. His short legs were plump, with little rolls on his thighs, and his round cheeks were rosy. I had a sudden vision of holding a child that looked just like that, except perhaps with green eyes.

"Adorable is not a word I ever want used to describe myself."

He slid that photo behind the others and paused. Like all the others, this picture had captured a candid moment. Most had been shots of Cassandra. A few of his father. And one of Lorcan. But this was the first one with his entire family present, including Niamh.

Several years older than Calix, she had already shed her baby fat, but she was still very much a child. She used a white feathered headband to push back her dark blue curls. A gauzy white dress hung loosely on her lean frame, ending at her ankles. The color accentuated her dark skin, or maybe it was just the natural glow she always seemed to have. So bright and luminous, even a human camera could capture it. She sat at Cassandra's feet, reading a book to her little brother.

"You all look so happy."

"I thought we were." He dropped the photos on his lap and stared blankly across the room. "Niamh and I almost always got along. Lorcan was too busy learning how to be king. She could come up with more ways to get into trouble than I could ever dream of. Lucky for her, she was also very good at getting out of trouble."

"Really?"

I thought of the demure, fashion obsessed princess I'd met on my first day in Faerie. She'd been so worried that her big brother had broken the rules that I had a hard time imagining her being a rule breaker. Then again, I wouldn't have said she was a traitor either, but she was.

His chest rose and fell with a great sigh. "She changed a lot after the Vow. I remember overhearing her pouting about not getting to visit the human realm because she wasn't old enough, and it wasn't fair that she would never get to go. Never get to experience the power that a Fae could get by drawing on humans. I dismissed it, thinking it was just her immaturity speaking."

I jumped when his balled fist thudded on his thigh. Jaw tight and teeth grinding together, he glared down at the photo. Carefully, I placed my hand over his fist until he relaxed, turning it palm up so we could thread our fingers together.

"My mother's visions led her to take these pictures over the years. I'm sure of it. She wanted to leave us something, but if she could see so much, why didn't she see what this would do to our family? Lorcan is a captive, Niamh is a usurper, and I was too weak to stop any of it."

"Hey," I said, sitting up and grabbing his face, forcing him to look at me. "None of that happened because you were too weak. Lorcan made his choice. He loved you enough to save you. Niamh...well, you don't know that she wouldn't have tried to seize power, Vow or no Vow."

"I know, but—"

"But nothing." I kissed him, nipping at his bottom lip and smiling as he chased after me when I drew away. "I'm an only child, so I can't pretend to know what you're going through, but I can say if the roles were reversed, you wouldn't let me blame myself, would you?"

Grumpily, he muttered, "No."

"That's what I thought."

"It's just..." Calix blew out a long breath. "I don't know if I can go back and do what needs to be done. How can I hurt my big sister? That picture is a reminder that not everything was a lie. She loved our family once, and I'm terrified that the only way to save the Summer Court is to lose my sister."

"We'll find a way. Sometimes, we have to look past our love and see the bigger picture, and sometimes that means doing things that might hurt them."

My stomach roiled as the truth hit me. That's what my dad had done. He'd made a hard decision to save me from something even harder. If Niamh was truly lost to us, then Calix would always mourn her, but taking no action would guarantee the loss of so many other things. He would never recover from that.

"What have I done to deserve you?"

I laid back down, wiggling to get closer to him as he picked up the pictures again. "You can show me your gratitude later."

Desire mixed with amusement drifted down our bond. We were quiet for a few minutes as we worked our way through the remaining pictures.

When we reached a picture of Lorcan and Calix sitting on a stone wall together, he paused. "I'm curious about something."

"Yes, Lorcan was definitely more handsome than you back then. I didn't know Fae went through an awkward stage, or is that just a you thing?"

I felt a pinch on my side. "You'll pay for that later, but no. That's not what I wanted to know. Did you ever wish you weren't an only child?"

"Oh." Sadness washed over me. "Sure. Especially as I got older. I always thought my dad would worry less about me if I wasn't an only child. What about you? Did you ever wish it was just you?"

He touched Lorcan's face. "Never."

The last photo was another one of Cassandra and Calix. She rocked him to sleep while standing on the balcony. Her bronze skin glowed in the amber light of sunset, and expression was soft. Content.

"We need to frame that one."

"And hang it on the wall?"

I put the photos on the nightstand and threw my leg over his lap. "We can hang all of them if you wish."

Calix gripped my hips and pulled me flush against him, his need for me apparent. I locked my fingers behind his neck, but neither of us made a move to take things further.

"I'd like that, and I'd like it if we took a photograph together. We can bring them back to Faerie."

When I nodded, he rolled me to my back and showed me exactly how much he appreciated me.